Miniature Wargames Issue 408

The March issue of MINIATURE WARGAMES magazine was delivered on Friday afternoon, and over the weekend I have managed to read it from cover to cover.

The articles included in this issue are:

• Welcome (i.e. the editorial) by John Treadaway
• Forward observer
• Send three and fourpence: The Country Itself: Garden wargaming by Conrad Kinch
• When in Rome: A campaign system for all those wanting to be friends, Romans, or countrymen by Jim Webster
• Show Special: Vapnartak by John Treadaway
• Mad Dogs and Englishmen: Indian Mutiny skirmish rules (Part Two) by Jon Sutherland
• Darker Horizons
• Fantasy Facts
• On the Warpath: An interview with the designers of Manic Games' WARPATH and FIREFIGHT games
• From the 4Ground up: Customising MDF building for SF games (Part Two) by Roger Dixon
• Show Special: Hammerhead by John Treadaway
• Pick a card, any card: Using playing cards to help with orders in wargames by Arthur Harman
• Show Special: ROBIN (Red On Blue In Nottingham) by Roger Dixon
• Recce
• Arab Stockade: The continuing tales of a wargames widow by Diane Sutherland
• Show Special: Cavalier by John Treadaway
• Club Directory

Lots of good articles for me to enjoy reading and to give me something to think about. Of particular interest were:

• Conrad Kinch's Send three and fourpence article about garden wargaming reminded me how much I have enjoyed taking part in such games at COW (the Conference of Wargamers) and elsewhere. The publication of Paul Wright's FUNNY LITTLE WARS and Tim Gow's LITTLE COLD WARS revived my interest in the sort of wargames I played as a child, and I now own quite a large collection of 54mm figures that need to be taken out and used every so often. Thank god that the Garden Wargaming season is not far off!
• Jim Webster's When in Rome campaign system looks interesting because it does not use a map and seems to have a very simple but effective way for players to raise armies. It has given me something to think about with regard to my possible future Napoleonic campaign. 
• The second part of Jon Sutherland's Mad Dogs and Englishmen article looks at the various commanders who took part, the use of event cards, and some typical armies.
• The second part of Roger Dixon's From the 4Ground up article about customising MDF buildings continues to whet my interest with regard to the possibility of using MDF buildings.
• Arthur Harman used my card-driven turn sequence as a starting point for the mechanisms he describes in his article entitled Pick a card, any card. He has taken it to a much higher level than I did ... and produced a very simple but sophisticated way to represent the ability of a commander to issue orders to the units under their command.

The magazine also included a guide to SALUTE 2017, which will be taking place on 22nd April at the ExCel Centre, London.

I hope to go to this show, and the fact that the guide was included with but not part of this issue means that I can spend time looking at it separately from the magazine. I really do like this idea, and hope that it will continue to feature in future issues of this magazine.